From: JOHN ADAMS, MINNA
The Niger State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described last Saturday election of Chief Uche Secondus as the national chairman of the party as the beginning of a new dawn for the party.
The party also said the election of Secondus was “the end of imposition and impunity in the party”.
Reacting to the array of criticisms that have trailed the outcome of the convention, the state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tanko Beji, said on Monday, in Minna, that no matter what anybody wants to say about the outcome of the convention, “it is the beginning of a new down of the party”.
Beji in a statement, a copy of which was made available to newsmen, in Minna, said he was confident that the national chairman of the party “would bring about progress and unity for the party.”
The statement reads in parts: “There is no doubt that your overwhelming victory with 2000 votes out of a total of 2396 delegates at the convention is a testimony to your acceptability by all delegates at the convention and the PDP members at home and in the diaspora
“Your victory is also an endorsement of your leadership capability and belief that you possess all that it takes to move our party to greater heights.
“Your victory as the new national chairman of our party is reward for your steadfastness, loyalty and dedication to the party before, during and after the crisis that engulfed our party especially when some enemies of the party and democracy tried to detail us”
Tanko Beji stated further that Uche Secondus and other members of the national executive committee should be assured of the support of the Niger state chapter of the party.
The chairman however advised the new chairman to be wary of sycophants who could derail his plans for the party and avoid the pitfalls of the previous executives which caused us the 2015 election”.
According to him, “Now that the national convention is over, the new leadership should use the new spirit in the party to start preparation for the next general election.”